The conference will take place 20-23 September at the University of Zadar and I will present my paper the morning of the 22nd (full programme here). I have 30 minutes (including time for questions) to discuss my paper and share some of the key findings presented in the full paper. The challenge will be to share enough of the highlights to motivate people to read (and cite!) the full paper, but not so much to where I bore my audience to tears.

The full paper will be available in Information Research in 2017, after which I will happily share a link to the publication. In the meantime, you can read the paper’s abstract below. (I will share my presentation slides in September.)

AbstractIntroduction. The means by which individuals evaluate the personal reputations of others, and manage their own personal reputations, as determined by information shared on social media platforms, is investigated from an information science perspective. The paper is concerned with findings from a doctoral study that takes into account prior work on the building and assessment of reputations through citation practice, as explored in the domain of scientometrics.

Method. Following the practice of studies of everyday life information seeking (ELIS), a multi-step data collection process was implemented. In total forty-five participants kept diaries and took part in semi-structured interviews. In this paper fifteen of these participants are represented.

Analysis. A qualitative analysis of the data was undertaken using NVivo10 to consider the information practices of one of three age group cohort generations: Generation X.

Results. Results generated from this initial analysis show some clear alignments with established knowledge in the domain, as well as new themes to be explored further. Of particular note is that social media users are more interested in the content of the information that is shared on social media platforms than they are in the signals that this information might convey about the sharer(s). It is also rare for these users to consider the impact of information sharing on personal reputation building and evaluation.

Conclusion. The analysis of the full dataset will provide further insight on the specific theme of the role of online information in personal reputation management, and contribute to theory development related to the study of information seeking behaviour and use.

In addition to delivering my paper, I will be attending a doctoral workshop prior to the official start of the conference. I attended the conference and doctoral workshop two years ago when it was in Leeds, England. At that time (in addition to presenting a poster), I was given some great input that helped me in the development of my research methods. This time, I am hoping for some great insight into the finishing touches of my thesis and maybe the next steps after graduation.

There will also be time to do some non-academic sightseeing whilst I’m in Zadar. I have a short list of “can’t miss” churches and geocaches, but I’m more than happy to take tips on other great places to visit!